Second garda linked to forged expenses

A handwriting expert today identified another garda who forged witness expenses for an illiterate Sligo man.

The forged witness expenses were given to Bernard Conlon, from Cartron Bay in Sligo, in 1998 for his participation in liquor licencing prosecutions against the McBrearty family and allowed him to claim money even though he was not working.

At the Morris Tribunal, Detective Sergeant Sean Lynch, a retired member of the Garda Technical Bureau, said he had examined the notebook of Garda Paul Casey and compared it to one of the forged expense certificates.

“I found similarities (in the handwriting) and no significant differences between them,” he said.

The Morris Tribunal has heard evidence from another handwriting expert, James Nash, that Sligo-based Garda John Nicholson forged the signature of the landlord Ben Maguire on four of the expense certificates.

The certificates purported to be from Ben Maguire, and allowed Bernard Conlon to claim IR£80 for missing his two days of work as a ‘caretaker’ due to his court appearances.

Sergeant Lynch said he believed Garda Casey had written the body of the expenses certificate but not the ‘Ben Maguire’ signature at the bottom.

He said he also believed that Garda John Nicholson had forged the four signatures of the Sligo landlord.

“It’s unlikely another person could have been responsible,” he said

Mr Nichoson was convicted of passing three forged documents on behalf of Bernard Conlon at Riverstown court in Sligo in 2002 but had always denied forging them.

Sergeant Lynch checked the signatures against the handwriting of a number of other Sligo-based gardaí and ruled them all out, including the late Garda John Keogh.

The family of Mr Keogh had been devastated when Garda Nicholson blamed him for the forged certificates in 2002, two years after he died of a heart attack.

The tribunal heard that Garda Nicholson, who has spent two months this year in a psychiatric hospital in Dublin, is currently receiving mediation and is unable to testify in public.

Judge Frederick Morris is planning to visit the retired garda at a neutral venue next week to take evidence from him on commission, although this is dependent on the recommendation of the garda's psychiatrist.